How’s this for a cute bit of doublespeak?: “What the report shows is that there is no evidence of benefit, which is not the same as there being evidence of no benefit.” Rumsfeld eat your heart out.
The subject matter to which this comment related? Well, not WMD, but the rather more mundane battlefield of OTC cough remedies. Whilst laid flat with the latest lung-crushing lurgy, the said Telegraph article infiltrated my delerium. A topic literally close to my heart, I wasn’t surprised to read that a major ‘study of studies’ had concluded the the stuff doesn’t work (or is that “doesn’t not work”… and where have I heard that one before?).
Now, actually, I’m sure we all know the facts about cough mixture: you take it, you cough. Eventually you get better. Like whitening toothpaste and anti-wrinkle cream, carpet shampoo and cat-deterrent pellets, there are some product categories which seem able to defy the unwritten laws of advertising, and the written laws of Trades Description – and get clean away with it. How come?
